Hidden
by Harric is Life
Summary: A pretty girl and the many masks she encounters. Tags: No Dialogue; One Shot.


Cho was a sensitive girl, some would say too sensitive, but she couldn't help it, she wore her heart out on the sleeve for the entire world to see, and it didn't bother her at all. She did not like to hide behind any masks, and perhaps that was the reason she was initially drawn to Cedric.

He was a lot like her, and in some ways better than her, but you could tell what he felt just by looking at him. His face was very expressive, and every emotion was on display. They both were perfect for each other, or so Marietta had told her, but she couldn't deny that they just clicked. Maybe there was no spark between them, but they were young, it took time for that sort of thing.

When he had returned after being tortured in that graveyard, he had changed. Of course he had, the things he had been through were sure to leave their mark. But what she hadn't expected was for him to close off, and hide behind masks after masks, no sane person could unravel. She tried of course, but he hadn't let her in, and she'd felt useless and inadequate. Maybe a little unwisely she had focused her attention onto someone else, someone who had suffered that night as well, perhaps a touch more.

Harry was a lot like her as well, but in a different way. She thought she had seen him hidden behind masks, but after that night he didn't appear to hide behind any, and his frustration and anger was there for all to see. She thought she was one of the few who also saw the hurt and pain behind those eyes, and she was there to comfort him.

It was different with him, they didn't click, not initially, but they weren't a mess either. Perhaps they could have lasted, if it wasn't for her own stupidity and Marietta's fear. But after, he had closed off as well, and the many masks she had seen him without for some time were back once more and there was no returning back.

She had Michael then, he had felt the safest. Being with him she knew it was petty of her, initially, and so unlike what she would normally do; and later she realized what a huge mistake. He was an open book if you bothered to read, but he had his masks as well. When with tentative fingers she had braved and pried them off, she was shocked, but she had taken it all in stride, and wondered if she could be like him as well.

There was Roger before them all of course, but at the time she wasn't worried about the masks, or how different they were, she had just seen the similarities, and that was enough then. But the similarities weren't enough for him, and that was the first time she had wondered about the masks. He hadn't hidden behind any, but she wondered if she herself had, and vowed to never do it again.

When she had caught them together that day, she was more amused than surprised; they'd both looked quite guilty, and apologetic to her. She had perhaps intentionally not noticed these masks back then, but now that she saw them removed; she was just happy for them and told them so. Perhaps what they needed was not her, but each other to see through their many masks, and pry them off if they so wished.

Later she had wondered maybe she didn't mind the masks that much anymore, if at all. They didn't bother the others as much as they did her, and they were not that bad, considering. This new way of thinking was perhaps the hint that she needed, thus she stopped worrying about the masks, and it led her to someone unexpected.

With Ginny it was very exciting, and all very new, she felt a thrill and at calm all at once with her. Perhaps it was the absence of the masks, or perhaps that she didn't look for any, but she felt at peace, and happier than she had ever been.

She was a lot different from her, and so unlike anyone ever before, but yet they were similar still. The similarities didn't attract her this time, but the differences did, and it all felt so invigorating and yet so perplexing at the same time.

Perhaps why they clicked was because she didn't like the masks as well, though she knew they had their use. And of course there was the spark that she had all but forgotten to look for, which felt like a breath of fresh air when she found it with her.

And when what they'd been through felt too much sometimes, both of them hid behind the masks like the rest who remained. Perhaps it was the only way to cope in the aftermath; besides, it felt nice to not be seen.


End file.
